A bean and pea shelling apparatus, wherein the beans are removed from their shells in a rotatable drum are known in the prior art. These prior art shellers have a beating system comprising a rotatable bar having angularly shaped beaters extending therefrom. Other prior art shelling apparatus provides for removing the shells and hulls from an end or side portion of the cylinder during the shelling operation.
It is an object of this invention to provide a bean and pea shelling apparatus that shells or hulls legumes, such as beans, butter beans, or peas in an economical, and efficient manner that minimizes waste. It is further an object of this invention to provide a bean and pea shelling apparatus that provides for a fully automatic system that automatically removes the shells or hulls for disposal.
In particular, it is an object of this invention to provide a bean or pea sheller having a cylindrically-shaped rotating basket with a removable surrounding coaxial casing. The apparatus can be used without the casing for shelling butter beans or other beans having a relatively large shell or hull, and can be used with the casing when shelling peas or other similar legumes having relatively small shells.
Still further, it is an object of this invention to provide a bean or pea sheller having a cylindrically-shaped rotating basket with a coaxial, removable, surrounding casing along with a motor-driven door that can be automatically opened following the hulling operation for removal of hulls or other wastage.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a bean or pea sheller having a plurality of cleaning apparatus for cleaning and removing stems, bits of hulls or shells, and other undesirable particles from the beans or peas following the shelling operation, resulting in an extremely clean product with few undesirable by-products.
Another object of this invention is to provide a double-belt conveyor cleaning or separating system useful for cleaning and removing stems and other small particles.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a bean or pea sheller having a cylindrically-shaped rotary basket with a longitudinal beater shaft having plastic coated radial beaters, such as Teflon coated, to remove the beans or peas from their hulls without bruising or otherwise damaging the beans or peas.